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Purpose: This study investigates the processes that the US universities and colleges used to learn during the COVID-19 pandemic and the factors that facilitated and impeded their learning processes. Design/methodology/approach: To address this study's research questions, this study used a crisis communication and learning lens to interview crisis response team members from 30 US higher education institutions in May 2020 (the first pandemic semester). In October 2020 (the second pandemic semester), this study conducted follow-up interviews with 25 of the original interviewees. Overall, this study conducted 55 interviews. Findings: Learning during the COVID-19 pandemic is facilitated by a recognition of a serious deficiency in the current system and impeded by the need to act quickly. The findings demonstrate the process by which decisions, actions and strategies emerged during crises. Originality/value: This investigation illustrates how crises can prompt organizational learning while demonstrating the critical role of internal and external resources in the learning process.

While existing crisis management research primarily approaches crisis communication from a single‐event perspective, this study provides initial evidence for communication about compound crises. To this purpose, we conducted a nationally representative survey experiment among U.S. residents (N = 670) to examine the effects of communication about compound crisis events on message fatigue and household preparedness. The study did not find support for the negative effects of communication about compound crises on message‐induced crisis fatigue and household preparedness intention. An additional analysis revealed that effects of the messages about compound crisis events are contingent upon the participants' level of past crisis experience, past crisis preparedness, accumulated fatigue from previous crises, and the type of evidence presented. Our findings revealed that individuals with higher past crisis experience exhibited higher crisis message fatigue and greater household preparedness intention. However, caution is warranted when interpreting these findings. The respondents' perceived distinction between compound and single crisis preparedness lacked conceptual clarity, possibly due to the ongoing influence of the COVID‐19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The six essays published in this issue all seek to extend principles of communication and instruction. They share an instrumental view of communication as a way to address problems and deficiencies and simultaneously position instructional communication research squarely within larger organizational and professional communication contexts. In addition, they demonstrate the ubiquity and relevance of not only teaching communication principles and skills across contexts beyond traditional classrooms, but also conducting instructional communication research dedicated to informing and improving upon such practices. With these strengths in mind, however, the author asserts that these essays also speak to some of the limitations to be overcome when applying current concepts of instructional communication in nontraditional contexts. Moreover, he also argues that some scholars are beginning to address them in their instructional work beyond the classroom.

Theories of resilience are keystones for understanding how individuals, small groups, organizations, and communities arrive at collective meaning, resolve uncertainty, and respond to crisis events. In response to a crisis, organizations can pursue three goals: Returning to the prior equilibrium, creating a new equilibrium with new processes and policies, or a combination of the two. Theories of resilience and renewal address these responses. Resilience has been applied in a diverse set of academic fields as well as in public policy discussions and in popular culture. This broad application, however, has resulted in conceptual confusion and conflicting interpretations. We explore the origins of resilience and its characteristics. We then review two discipline-specific postcrisis theories, The Communication Theory of Resilience and Discourse of Renewal. We ask, how can these theories enrich understanding of postcrisis adaptive processes and create for a more comprehensive picture of how individuals and organizations respond to crises? Taken together, they provide a broader framework for understanding the role of postcrisis discourse and informing practitioners in the enactment of responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

External funding is an important yet understudied area of inquiry in crisis communication research. With external funding being a keystone of assessing and broadening research impact in both academia and industry, it is important for scholarship to examine effective practices for funding proposals. This study explores the best and worst practices for funded research through an expert consultation survey of 36 global communication scholars with track records of funding success. Findings reveal motivating factors for seeking, securing and managing funding, as well as institutional factors. Findings also inform best and worst practices for securing external funding, including bridging theory and practice and establishing strong research partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates medium‐scale disruptive events to understand how these events influence communication and coordination between two interdependent systems (i.e., the water system and the public health system). Medium‐scale events are events that are often overlooked as routine as they occur with more frequency than large‐scale events, yet they have the potential to provide important information about the state and vulnerability of systems, and, if not managed appropriately, can cascade into larger‐scale crises. A survey of US public drinking water systems (N = 471) shows that medium‐scale events promote coordination, especially when those events have a public dimension. Findings also reveal that several features of water systems including surface water sources, system size, and ownership types are associated with higher levels of interaction with the public health systems. Additionally, a network analysis identifies three distinct subnetworks that engage in emergency response activities. The strength of the working relationship was strongly associated with coordinated emergency responses, coordinated public responses, planning, and technical assistance. Findings have implications for both theory and crisis management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of resilience is surging in popularity, but relevant discussions are often disconnected from one field to another. To prompt integration of disparate conversations on resilience, we examine the concept's origins etymologically, genealogically, and by analyzing the interdependencies of drinking water and public health systems in six academic disciplines and practice-oriented fields. These disciplines are engineering, social work, urban studies, political science, communication, and public health. While the disciplinary resilience literatures are relatively stove-piped from one another's contexts, they all theorize resilience at multiple levels of analysis. They also engage a range of understandings of how to build resilience in complex systems. This paper brings several conversations together, addressing gaps and resonances in disciplinary conceptualizations of resilience with nine propositions to cultivate interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary discussions and debates. We ground this creative inquiry in real-world examples of water system crises to highlight subthemes among the propositions and stimulate more diverse discussions moving forward. We examine dynamics of interfaces and interactions within and between systems through the Elk River Water chemical contamination in Charleston, West Virginia in 2014. We investigate tensions that arise in knowledge and practice through lead poisoning of public water systems in Washington, DC and Flint, MI. Finally, we consider how change and persistence shape learning through water infrastructure in Southern California. All together, these propositions offer a starting point and a provocation to strengthen theorizing around resilience for critical infrastructure systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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One Health is a framework focusing on the dynamic intersections between humans, animals, and ecosystems regarding health systems and practices. As human decisions and actions are the locus of One Health challenges, it is critical to understand how people perceive and act on these connections. Fundamentally, the literature in this area is based in the natural and health sciences; further efforts are still necessary to fully realize the potential of bringing social research squarely into One Health. We suggest several areas of scholarship that could move this effort forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]